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Monday, May 01, 2006

A day out at Godolphin House

Godolphin House is a historic country house just 6 miles from us. It is a classic position I guess, I have lived here all of my life (so far) more than 40 years and I had never visited the house and grounds.

I am embarassed and amazed when I think about this, especially now I have looked over the property. The previous link gives the lowdown on the house and stands in for the photos I have to work out how to post from my phone. (More on this later). The best bit has to be how the house was in a "natural" state. What I mean by this is more how you'd expect it to have appeared to people hundreds of years before, not in it's heyday but a generation or two after it's height.

The tour does not take that long; at ?6 it might seem expensive for the relatively short viewing but it's the closeness to the fabric and the intimate feel that compensates. We've been "spoilt" as members of the National Trust, not having to pay out of our pocket at the door for a multitude of magnificant properties.

There was a food market at the House today and this was the bait that drew us . We will now return there in the future to picnic and walk the grounds. The estate once had a deer park based across a hill, the second highest in the area, now an open area with public access. We have walked over Godolphin Hill to look across the fields to the towns of Camborne and Redruth and surrounding countryside and to the neighbouring Tregonning Hill. In the area there have been people living for an age, the National Trust site refers to evidence of occupation in the Bronze Age.

I would reckon Godolphin House to be worth a visit and you could plan a day there if you are into picnics and country walks.

The food available at the market held there, over the last couple of days, was extensive. The emphasis was on Cornish produce and that we sampled was of a high quality, in our opinion. One thing that saddens me slightly is the fact that local produce has to be quite so expensive. Then again, these products were often specialist and you always have to pay more for someone to prepare it for you. If I was to try to live on the local products I saw there today I would have to be on a non-local salary. Or maybe that's unfair, after all, it's not about living off specialist products everyday, what makes them special is the occasional treat.